Cat Power "Where Is My Love": Poop or Not Poop

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From today's Pitchfork review (good enuf for a 7.9, but maybe too mainstream, too marketable, too grown-up?):

I think this song is simple and sweet. Not the best track, but it works nicely in contrast with the rest of the album. No bird poop here. What do you think?

I never like the early Cat Power stuff, but, for me, this album's magic, start to finish. Maybe if you're a fan of the early stuff you don't like this one, or react badly to certain songs?

― Tim Paul (timnyc), Monday, 23 January 2006 16:10 (twenty years ago)

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/c/cat-power/greatest.shtml

Here's the relevant section:

quote\
Even worse is "Where Is My Love", the album's rock-bottom low. Marshall moans the title over and over again (interspersed with "bring him to me" and stuff about horses galloping and running free) in some sort of high school musical approximation of Nina Simone. She's accompanied only by Cheez Wiz piano scales and those same heart-tugging strings from "The Greatest", only this time they sound creepily manipulative, not sad or beautiful. In my mind, I see Marshall in a fluffy white gown with a plunging neckline singing this song out of a balcony window. At the end, a dove lands on her outstretched finger. And poops all over her dress.
/quote

― Tim Paul (timnyc), Monday, 23 January 2006 16:11 (twenty years ago)

I do very much enjoy this song as well.

― matt2 (matt2), Monday, 23 January 2006 16:26 (twenty years ago)

These soul legends have played with Al Green, Booker T. and the MG's, Aretha Franklin, Neil Young, and countless others; in other words, they don't seem like the kind of dudes who'd stand much tortured diva bullshit from some no-name white girl off Matador Records.

Wwwwwaaaaaaaahhhhhttttttt...?

― Jimmy Mod (I myself am lethal at 100 -110dB) (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Monday, 23 January 2006 16:33 (twenty years ago)

I'd agree, Tim -- great from start to finish. The only record of hers I'd heard before was the s/t on Smells Like, and I hated that.

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Monday, 23 January 2006 16:49 (twenty years ago)

I'm sure "soul legend" session men do what they're paid to do.

― senseiDancer (sexyDancer), Monday, 23 January 2006 16:51 (twenty years ago)

There are so many problems with that quote I don't know where to begin

― Jimmy Mod (I myself am lethal at 100 -110dB) (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Monday, 23 January 2006 16:54 (twenty years ago)

it should be against the law for pitchfork reviewers to try to write about anything other than the extremely small and insular world they live in. it's so embarrassing.

― stockholm cindy (winter version) (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 23 January 2006 17:15 (twenty years ago)

Jimmy's pullquote is just miraculously, willfully clueless

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Monday, 23 January 2006 17:20 (twenty years ago)

the author, as I suspected before i checked the byline, the legendarily foolish Amy Phillips.

― veronica moser (veronica moser), Monday, 23 January 2006 18:22 (twenty years ago)

Could someone explain what's so offensive about the quote? I have my own ideas, but I'd like to know exactly what you think.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 23 January 2006 18:29 (twenty years ago)

I can't imagine a record more mature than "You Are Free" not being the most sleep-inducing thing ever.

― fandango (fandango), Monday, 23 January 2006 18:36 (twenty years ago)

session musicians put up with whatever bullshit they're paid to put up with. the author of the piece has this romantic idea that if Chan were as difficult as she's reputed to be (nb: she is), these badass musicians, who are clearly ARTISTES and not, say, wildly talented hired hands, would suddenly decide they didn't wanna get paid and say "hey, crazy white girl: we're not gonna play with you 'less'n you act right!" The reality: you can be completely, utterly batshit and your session musicians will usually just quietly deal with it. Why? IT'S THEIR JOB, GENIUS

― I Love You Just Because You're Special, Monday, 23 January 2006 18:47 (twenty years ago)

...but then, the rest of the quote seems to think that Chan is all about "tortured diva bullshit," which isn't what people say about her at all, at least not if they've spent, y'know, ten minutes hangin' out with her

― I Love You Just Because You're Special, Monday, 23 January 2006 18:49 (twenty years ago)

who are clearly ~~ARTISTES~~ BLACKASS SOUL DUDERS WHO WOULD TAKE NO GUFF FROM LITTLE WHITE GRRL and not, say, wildly talented hired hands

― Jimmy Mod (I myself am lethal at 100 -110dB) (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Monday, 23 January 2006 19:27 (twenty years ago)

you're right, but have now condemned this thread to 500-plus posts

― I Love You Just Because You're Special, Monday, 23 January 2006 19:37 (twenty years ago)

neil young's foray into R&B went so well, ya know...

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Monday, 23 January 2006 19:52 (twenty years ago)

Eventually, the Blackass Soul Dude and the Whiteass Diva Bitch learn a little something about each another, and a shy, grudging respect is born.

And as they walk out of the studio on the final day of the recording sessions, Blackass Soul Dude calls out to her, "Next time you're in Memphis, gimme a ring. You've gotta eat my old lady's soul food!"

Smiling, Whiteass Bitch replies, "NOW who's being demanding?"

"You know," says Soul Dude, looking deeply into Whiteass Bitch's eyes and laughing, "you really are crazy."

Fade to black and we're out.

― erklie, Monday, 23 January 2006 20:38 (twenty years ago)

beautiful.

― bobqawesome (bobqawesome), Monday, 23 January 2006 20:58 (twenty years ago)

OK, we know Samuel L. Jackson will play Soul Dude in the movie version, who will play Chan???

― anna graham, Monday, 23 January 2006 21:10 (twenty years ago)

the greatest doesn't seem like a very difficult album to make, and that's not a knock against it -- just that it's hard to picture chan being exceptionally diva-ish about something so straightforward. plus, somebody's gotta pay for the studio time and the session dudes, and she's not exactly a billionaire, so presumably she knows that it's in her best interest to be professional.

― stockholm cindy (winter version) (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 23 January 2006 21:13 (twenty years ago)

Zooey Deschanel, probably

xpost

― Jimmy Mod (I myself am lethal at 100 -110dB) (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Monday, 23 January 2006 21:21 (twenty years ago)

angelina could be convincing...

http://www.republika.pl/angelina_jolie_nude231/angelina-jolie-009.jpg http://www.hi.is/~peturv/catpower.jpg

― stockholm cindy (winter version) (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 23 January 2006 21:25 (twenty years ago)

some diva...

Cat Power chanteuse Chan Marshall soaks up Memphis soul on her new album, "The Greatest," due Jan. 26 via Matador. The 12-track set was recorded in three days at the city's Ardent Studios and produced by Stuart Sikes, who previously worked with Marshall on her 1996 album "What Would the Community Think."

The artist is surrounded on the set by a who's-who of Memphis session veterans, led by Al Green guitarist Mabon "Teenie" Hodges, who plays guitar on all but three tunes. Among the other contributors are bassists Leroy Hodges and David Smith, guitarist Doug Easley, keyboardist Rick Steff, saxophonist Jim Spake and trumpeter Scott Thompson.

Marshall had been playing some of these songs live before the sessions, but as Sikes tells Billboard.com, "I don't think she had any idea how they were going to turn out. When they got to the studio, she played them the song and they charted it out and then just played it. Most of it was done by the first, second or third take."

And while Marshall has become notorious for her erratic live performances and shy demeanor, Sikes says the musicians quickly set her at ease. "The first day, I know she was pretty nervous walking into a room full of these guys who have been on a gazillion records," he says. "But all those guys are amazingly nice. All they wanted was to make her comfortable."

― stockholm cindy (winter version) (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 23 January 2006 22:00 (twenty years ago)

i've never heard that she was a diva, anywhere, until that review. stage fright, yes. that doesn't mean you're whitney houston.

can someone tell me if "Islands" on the record really starts with the DJ announcing the track? because I assumed it did until people here claimed the leaks were from some radio broadcast (which I think is wrong)

― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 23 January 2006 22:13 (twenty years ago)

the version i have does. it's cute.

― stockholm cindy (winter version) (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 23 January 2006 22:17 (twenty years ago)

"The biggest challenge of this album isn't going to be commercial success; just stick "Could We" on the soundtrack to a hip romantic comedy, and it'll take off on its own. The difficult part will be proving to longtime fans that Chan Marshall is the one in control here. She's made an album that, for the most part, is polished and accessible. For better or worse, she's stretched her musical horizons far beyond the close-knit indie rock world-- a world that likely doesn't want her to change."

So let me see, having a hit is easy, but satisfying those darn indie-rockers is much harder.

― curmudgeon, Monday, 23 January 2006 22:57 (twenty years ago)

erklie's post is a TREAT.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 00:15 (twenty years ago)

Eventually, the Blackass Soul Dude and the Whiteass Diva Bitch learn a little something about each another, and a shy, grudging respect is born.

Then... THEY FIGHT CRIME.

― albondigas! (albondigas), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 01:27 (twenty years ago)

Hi y'all - thought I would contribute a little insider information here. One of the Blackass Soul Dudes is actually.......a WHITEASS Soul Dude! He's a good pal of mine, David Smith, who also plays bass on The Greatest. If you get a chance to see Chan when she's in your town, you can enjoy his lily white ass in person.

No scary diva bullshit stories to share - he said she was very cool and it was an interesting project to work on.....and after the tour ends, he's back to FIGHTING CRIME.

― Miss Maisie in Memphis, Monday, 30 January 2006 23:13 (twenty years ago)

Can I just mention that Chan's voice on this record actually makes me feel like there's something stuck in my throat? Like an entire caramel apple, maybe?

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 05:19 (twenty years ago)

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